Vegetable and fruit growers’ intention to use biopesticides in India: application of TPB and HBM models
Amanpreet Kaur, Vikas Kumar, Arun Kumar Kaushik
Abstract
In a quest to examine people’s perceptions of biopesticide usage, the current research investigates the influence of the health belief model and theory of planned behavior constructs on farmers’ intentions toward using biopesticides. Furthermore, the study explores the mediation effect of attitude on usage intention. Data were collected from 323 vegetable and fruit growers from seven northern states of India and examined by applying the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique using SmartPLS software. The results reveal that all the factors, except perceived behavioral control, significantly influence farmers’ attitudes and behavioral intention to use biopesticides. Moreover, a mediation analysis reveals a full mediation effect of attitude for health motivation and a partial mediation effect for perceived benefits on behavioral intention. Finally, the proposed research model has substantial explanatory power and helps to examine farmers’ intention to use biopesticides. The government and policymakers may use the current research findings to develop strategies to enhance biopesticide usage.